Mo. State Workers' Pay, Benefits, May Get Review

A joint House-Senate committee met today at the Missouri Capitol to discuss a proposed review of wages and benefits paid to state workers.

State Senator Mike Kehoe (R, Jefferson City) sits on the Joint Interim Committee on State Employee Wages. He says they’d like to hire a company to review Missouri’s entire compensation package for state employees.

“Just like any business, you want to make sure that your employees are doing a good job, and the ones that are performing well that you’re taking care of," Kehoe said. "To the taxpayer who is paying for the bill, you need to make sure that your state employees are accountable and are providing the services that the taxpayers expect and that they feel like they should be getting."

Kehoe says if approved, the review would include both hourly wages and monthly salaries, as well as benefits and days off. So far, there’s no estimate on how much money such a review would cost the state, and no indication whether the full legislature would agree to pay for it.

“The way I understand it, the last time this has been done is 1984, so we’re well due for one of these," Kehoe said. "In private business you would want to do one of these about every 10 years.”